Line 4.90m, December 1959 1959

Editor: Here we have Piero Manzoni's "Line 4.90m, December 1959," a line encased in a simple cardboard tube. I find the presentation so understated, almost comical. What are your thoughts? Curator: Consider the materiality itself. The cardboard, the ink, the labor to produce the line within – these are all crucial. Manzoni is challenging the preciousness of art by emphasizing the means of its production and distribution. How does this contrast with traditional notions of artistic genius? Editor: So, it's less about the art object itself, and more about the systems that create and contain it? That's fascinating! I hadn't considered that. Curator: Precisely. And what does it say about our consumption of art?